The Whole Truth (well, to me anyway)

This is something I've felt compelled to write for a while, and it's as much to keep myself motivated as it is to shed some light on the health-conscious side of me to people who might not understand. I feel like there has been some misconceptions as to why I do what I do, or even WHAT I do, so read and become enlightened...

Most people who would call me their friend know that for quite some time I have been fairly good at taking care of myself, with regard to eating (somewhat) right and getting regular exercise. It's definitely had its share of ups and downs, but on the whole it's been positive for the last 5 years or so. January 2006 started probably the most intense, deliberate effort I've ever went through to make eating right and regular exercise a part of my lifestyle. Actually, if I wanted to be really technical about it, July 2005 would have been the start date, because I began research then. Needless to say, once it started, this generated lots of questions/comments/funny glances at first, but I think everyone has gotten used to it. Oddly enough, I still seem to have to entertain the same questions/comments over and over again to people who I don't think quite understand what I am doing. Some of them are honest enough, and some get pretty annoying, but here are some more common ones, in no particular order:

• Are you still doing your diet?
• You are skinny enough already, why are you on a diet? (I guess some people think that 5'7" 158 lbs is unhealthy)
• Can you eat __________ on your diet?
• Why do you drink those? (protein shakes)
• You a little obsessed with this.
• I don't know how you do it, I could never do all that you do.

"Are you still doing your diet?"
I don't call what I do "a diet". The word "diet" carries with it the connotation that it's something that you're either ON or OFF of. A "diet" is something that people say they "did last year", or something they "did one time" (or two time, or three, etc) but now you couldn't tell because now they are bigger than they were when they started. With me that is not the case. What I have done is a lifestyle change. I am gradually moving myself into a state where eating right and exercising is as much a part of my life as waking up and going to work in the morning; that's how serious I am about it.

"You are skinny enough already, why are you on a diet?"
I don't consider myself skinny, I consider myself at nearly a good, lean weight for my size. It's somewhat depressing that now we consider 20-30 lbs overwieght to be "normal sized" or "just big boned", and I don't wish to fall in that demographic anymore. For me, not fitting the status quo is just as much motivation as getting healthy, I've been part of that status quo for far too long. Today the de facto order of things, if you will, seems to be GET MARRIED >> GET OVERWEIGHT AND LAZY >> GET OLD. Seems to me like it should be the other way around; when you get married, you may have someone else (or more, if you have kids) depending on you, so wouldn't you figure you at least owe it to them (and you) to keep yourself healthy so that you can handle the hardships life might throw at you? Just something to think about...

"Can you eat __________ on your diet?"
With regard to WHAT I can/can't eat on my diet, there are very few hard rules I have for myself. Some things are on the "can't" list just because of what they are. I have a range of minimum/maximum calories I want to consume everyday, as well as what ratios of carbs/protein/fat I want to consume those calories in; everything else is up to me. This isn't to say that I'm always super strict with what I eat. I'm working toward a healthy lifestyle, not trying to deprive myself of the experience of being human. There are a few times a week that, for the sake of being social, I eat things that I wouldn't normally eat on an "average" day. I just make sure the line between "sometimes" and "all the time" is clearly defined.

Why do you drink those? (protein shakes)
I drink my protein supplements because adequate protein intake everyday is one part of my "diet". Why, you ask? Because, among other things, protein is the building blocks of muscle, and muscle is good, in my opinion. Muscle is how I differentiate "skinny" people from "lean" people.
I generally consume around 200g of protein per day, and if that doesn't sound like a lot to you, try this: count up how much you eat on an average day. How many is it? 50, maybe 60, or less? Now multiply that by 4 and imagine, for a second, what kind of change in your eating habits it would take for YOU to consume that much protein. THAT is why I drink protein shakes.

You a little obsessed with this.
I'd like to refer to it as "focused". To me, "obsessed" is a word that lazy people use to describe dedication.

I don't know how you do it, I could never do all that you do.
Well, no, you can't, because in making that statement, you've denied yourself even a chance. There's no magic to what I'm doing, I'm not superhuman or anything, it's simply a choice followed by an action. Make a decision and do it, rain or shine, whether you feel like it or not, and before long you won't feel right NOT doing it. Believe me, when I started I didn't think I could "do all that" either, but now I'm glad that I did do it.

Hopefully I answered some questions in that whole heap of typing above. I have a blog entry describing my "diet", dated sometime in January, so if you wonder about specifics, scroll down a bit. Finally, as a response to the question that's likely still lingering, "Are you still doing your diet?", I will answer with a question: Am I still breathing? Remember that fitness is a journey, not a destination.